Vonco is the second major packaging manufacturer to leave Illinois in less than two weeks.

Altria announces plant closures in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has increased more than six times the rate population has grown over the last five years.

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show Illinois’ professional and business services sector has fared better than the state’s manufacturing industry, which recorded 800 job losses in September.

The Land of Lincoln’s unfriendly climate for manufacturers has weakened Illinois cities, discouraged investment and made the state uncompetitive in the region.

Policy reforms in Indiana have led to significant jobs growth, but lawmakers in the Land of Lincoln haven’t taken note.

Illinois law gives financial incentives to many injured workers to stay off the job and to doctors to prescribe more medications to workers’ compensation patients.

The August BLS jobs report shows Illinois is down 8,000 manufacturing jobs on the year, giving the state the worst manufacturing job losses in the region, and a summer workforce contraction totaling 100,000 people.

Illinois stands out in the industrial Midwest for its skewed government-to-manufacturing-jobs ratio.